If we’re really going to get a significant part of our energy from solar power, we’re going to need to have a LOT of solar panels. Ideally, we’d put solar panels on everything — every roof, every wall, every car. Solar panels on the Capitol. Solar panels on the Moon. So it might be a good idea for them to not be eyesores, huh?
Designer André Broessel’s Beta Torics solar generator blows past that goal. It’s not just non-ugly — it’s genuinely awesome-looking, like something out of a science fiction or fantasy movie. But the crystalline sphere isn’t just for aesthetics; it’s full of water, which super-concentrates the sun’s light onto a solar photovoltaic panel, boosting efficiency by up to 35 percent.
The idea is that you’d mount the generator in walls or on roofs to boost the production of solar panels or solar thermal systems and make your house look like a goddamn spaceship. Which, as Treehugger points out, raises some construction challenges, since that much water would be really really heavy. But we think the answer is obvious: Giant David Bowie to levitate it.
Problem solved.
